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Tag: Punk

  • Nelson Comes to Visit Vol. 2: Negative thoughts about myself and people I love dearly by Superdestroyer//Leave Nelson B

    Nelson Comes to Visit Vol. 2: Negative thoughts about myself and people I love dearly by Superdestroyer//Leave Nelson B

    Artist: Superdestroyer //Leave Nelson B

    Album: NCTV Vol. 2: Negative thoughts about myself and people I love dearly

    Release: October 17, 2025; Lonely Ghost Records

    I am gong to be honest with y’all. Initially, I wasn’t going to review this album. You see this would be the 3rd Superdestroyer project reviewed on the blog as well as the third Leave Nelson B project. Then, the first single hit and I realized that what is the point of running a music blog if I am not going to write about the music that I truly enjoy. So, at the risk of becoming a Superdestroyer//Leave Nelson B stan blog, I present y’all my review of Nelson Comes To Visit Vol. 2: Negative thoughts about myself and people I love dearly. 

    Something that I initially missed in my review of the first NCTV album was its overarching narrative. There were definitely hints of it there but for me at least the whole of the narrative wasn’t really revealed to me until I was watching interviews and press stuff after my review was written. This time around, I think Superdestroyer and Leave Nelson B have utilized musical elements to really sell that overarching narrative and specifically the character arch of the narrative’s POV character. For example, the guitar in track 1 “Limerance” ties it directly to the 2nd track on the album “I will close my eyes and astral project where you are”. Limerance also contains lyrics from the 5th track on the album “You only like me when I’m numb”. To me, this is an indication that the songs are not only related to each other but are also narratively important.  Finally, that last track of the album, “I can’t relate” is something like a reprise of “I will astral project where you are” except it acts as a resolution to the narrative. 

    So what NCTV Vol: 2 offers narratively is the story of a person who is deeply infatuated with a loved one. Limerance being a kind romantic attraction that is often overwhelming and obsessive. 

    “I will astral project to where you are” illustrates that our POV uses this relationship and thought of his loved one as a way of zoning out, rather than dealing with people that don’t like or respect him or even engage with him as equals. Astral projection here being a metaphor for him imagining being with his loved one rather than dealing with whoever is currently talking to him. 

    Then, in “You only like me when I’m numb”,  we get somewhat of a turning point for our POV. The first half of the song is  where he begins to realize that he isn’t getting all he needs out of his relationships. Perhaps from the people he is trying to avoid in “I will astral projection were you are” or from his loved one. To me, everything from about 30 seconds into the song to about 1 minute 13 is pretty illustrative of a crash out and of spiraling intrusive thoughts.  Everything after seems more self reflective and a realization that he can only ever control half a relationship and an acceptance that the other half has to take responsibility for it as well. 

    Finally, in “I can’t relate” our POV finds himself back talking to another unpleasant person. Rather than falling back to bad habits, he chooses to instead take responsibility for himself. Solid growth is demonstrated here by our POV. It is a great resolution to the narrative, because you are not doing yourself or your relationships any favors by packing them full of preconceived notions and expectations that the others in involved may not even know about or fully understand. 

    The last song shout out I want to hit is “Doomed Planet”. I absolutely love the piano and synth found in this song. I have also mentioned before, in another review, that I am a fan of archive audio. I can’t say for sure that this song uses it cause surprising as it might seem I haven’t heard all the archival audio, but it is clear that this song means to invoke that feel. I like the vibe the overall song gives and its placement on the album. It sits in a key spot and acts like another sign post for the narrative as it wraps up. 

    All the tracks on this album are masterfully composed and while I have chosen to highlight the narrative in this review, I want to make it clear the music does in fact go hard. I love all the synthesizer work quite a lot. In general, it is also heavier than the last NCTV album which I think is a great move to illustrate the darker nature of this outing.

    NCTV Vol, 2 follows up to the album Nelson Comes To Visit, released in 2024. It was an exceptional album that could quite rightly be considered my album of the year if I did that kind of thing. Does this release live up to that pedigree? The short answer is yes. I honestly feel that if you are a fan of electronic music, punk or rock, you are willfully missing out on something extraordinary if you are still sleeping on Superdestroyer and Leave Nelson B. They are both very talented individuals and when they team up you know what you are getting is going to be good. 

  • New Dead Ends by The Best of the Worst

    New Dead Ends by The Best of the Worst

    Artist: The Best of the Worst

    Album: New Dead Ends 

    Released: September 19, 2025; Bad Time Records

    Best of the Worst, I think at this point can be considered veterans of the New Jersey music scene. “New Dead Ends” is their second release on Bad Time Records, but they’ve been making stellar Skacore jams since 2008. Personally, I have been a big fan since the last release “Better Medicine.” Their propensity to present social commentary flung at you with hard and fast instrumentals is endearing. This new release is no different. 

    Musically, “Curtain Call” is absolutely fantastic. Hands down my favorite song on the album. The synthy little bit at the intro of the song that melds seamlessly into the horns as they come in, is perfection. It tickles the part of my brain that runs solely on 90’s Nintendo nostalgia. Liz Facklemen’s vocal performance here is amazing and powerful. The contrast it provides against the angry screamy bits is definitely a pleasure. It also happens to be best example of aforementioned social commentary, as well. The song deals with the the experiences of women in the music scene that are horrifyingly all too common. It’s unfortunate when very small men get a minute amount of power; they use it to become predators. The song calls out this behavior and talks about how in the aftermath, the individual victims rarely have the power to dole out consequences. A sad reality. However, in vocalizing these experiences, what this song really does is give us, the music community, a choice to do something about it, moving forward. We don’t have to support known abusers. We don’t have to book them for shows or buy their tickets. And perhaps, if late at night these types of guys run into trouble in a parking lot, we can look the other way and pretend we didn’t see anything. That is after all the kind of culture abusers prefer and rely on. We can in fact choose to watch the legacy of abusers decompose. We just have chose to do it together. 

    Another song that really stuck with me is “Running Out of Time”. It is a slower paced reggae jam about how we often get so caught up in the monotony of life that it passes us by. I think the song heavily implies the question:  “Is it worth putting off the truly important things (whatever that means to you) to continue to grind though life’s busy work “crossing t s and dotting i s?”. In my mind, the thing that is truly great about the song is that the smooth tempo and chill beat serves up this Socratic wisdom with a matter of fact vibe. Rather than being a anxiety inducing hyper-fast ‘you better get off your ass and live before you die’ type hardcore song. Which I suppose would have also gotten the message across, albeit in a way that I believe would have been less impactful.   

    Last is the song “Misogyny”. At the risk of perhaps alienating some people; I am not a big hardcore fan. Let me explain before you get the pitchforks out. I don’t consider myself a hardcore fan because telling me something is hardcore will never inspire me to check it out solely for that reason. Now that being said, this is the kind of hardcore song I like. It’s got that social commentary that I am a fan of. The guitars are ripping and the cadence of the vocal performance right before it transitions to the second half of the song is absolutely sublime.  

    With “New Dead Ends”, The Best of the Worst have provided listeners with a robust and varied experience featuring an engineered blend of genres and sounds that only the veterans they are could have delivered. If you are a fan of Ska, Hardcore, or anything that sits between those two genres I think you should definitely give this album a listen. 

    If you like the album I reviewed here and want to support the artist as well as this blog please consider picking up the album via this affiliate link—>Purchase New Dead Ends by The Best of the Worst digitally via Amazon Music